


Batter Up

by irrelephanthumour



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas, Destiel if you squint - Freeform, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 21:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6394918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irrelephanthumour/pseuds/irrelephanthumour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angel tree topper decorations are...not Cas' favourite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Batter Up

**Author's Note:**

> Well this kinda came out of nowhere! Inspired by an artwork by whatwouldcaptainamericado on Tumblr which can be found here

It started at the mall.

They’d headed out to do the last of their Christmas shopping with a few weeks left before the big day and in the crush of people and the clamour of Christmas carols and screaming children lining up to see Santa Claus, Dean managed to lose Cas. After pushing through another group of harassed looking parents Dean looked back to joke to Cas about how at least they’d never have to worry about screaming children in their lives only to see a distinct lack of former angel following in his wake.

Stifling a groan Dean turned back and a quick search soon found him standing next to the brunet in front of a window display full of Christmas trees.

“You right there Cas?”

“We look nothing like that Dean. It’s...well it’s disturbing to say the least.”

A perplexed look on his face, Dean took a closer look at the apparent cause of his friend’s ire before chuckling as the realisation set in. “The angel topper? Really? That’s what has your tie in a knot?”

“My tie is always in a knot Dean, I fail to see how…”

“Cas, that’s not the…not the point, you know what nevermind, it doesn’t matter. What’s your beef? So the angels don’t look all big and scary as you really are so what? Most people don’t even think you guys are real.”

Dean watched as emotions raced across Castiel’s face before a small frown settled in between his eyebrows and he finally looked away from the displays to meet Dean’s eyes before asking where they were headed to next. Dean tucked the incident away in his mind before leading the way to the next store.

\-----

Dean had assumed that the incident with the angel toppers at the mall was a once off, a moment of melancholic disgruntlement from a man who was mostly content with his new life as a human.

He was wrong.

He would never have foreseen the strength and speed with which the former angel’s hate of a seemingly innocent Christmas decoration would grow. Every time they passed a mall Christmas setup or an outdoor tree that little frown came across Castiel’s face and a grumpy _harrumph_ sounded in his throat and it seemed that the more glitter and fluff it was adorned with, the greater the derision it received.

It all came to a head one evening when Dean returned with Sam from a quick run into town for last minute food supplies. They’d left Cas with boxes of decorations and a stout little pine tree they’d cut down on a back road somewhere, along with instructions to go nuts and start decorating as there was no short supply and getting everything up would be hours’ worth of work.

Instead of the beginnings of a well-festooned Christmas bunker, the brothers walked back into the library to see Cas, tie loose around his neck, taking an angry swing at the little Christmas tree with a baseball bat. Dean rushed forward when the swing missed the top of the tree and the momentum sent Castiel reeling towards a table head first before Dean’s hands caught and steadied him. Blue eyes quickly found green, burning with anger as that sandpaper voice rasped out,

“Hello Dean.”

“Heya Cas.” A wry smile lifted Dean’s lips as he settled Cas back to his feet. “So…what’d that poor tree ever do to you anyway?”

“I wasn’t aiming at the tree Dean,” a grimace passed over the brunet’s face as he looked over at the aforementioned decoration, “I was aiming for the abomination on top of it!”

Dean looked over to the top of the tree, a gruff laugh leaving his lips when he finally noticed the small angel topper perched on the top branches. Looking back at his friend, the laughter died off at the sight of the anger still plain on Cas’ face.

“Wait…seriously? OK Cas, what is UP with you and the angel toppers! They’re just stupid little decorations, nothing to get so worked up about!”

A quick glance over at the offending item before blue eyes once again met green and the whole story poured out from Castiel’s lips – all the pent up anger, hurt and remorse over the loss of his angelic self, the wounded pride at the pitiful depiction of God’s warriors on earth, the frustration at even caring so much about something so little, all came flooding out of the former angel in a torrent of angry words and emphatic hand gestures that soon had Dean reaching out to hold both arms in attempt to soothe the ruffled feathers in the room. Eventually the words petered out and the gestures disappeared until it was just the two of them standing in the middle of the room, Dean’s palms running soothingly up and down, bunching up the white dress shirt as it went, Cas’ eyes sad as he murmured,

“I just needed a release. Some way to expel some of these feelings Dean…”

“I guess I understand…We’ve all come up with worse ways to deal with things before,” the blond replied before a thoughtful look stole over his face. “You know what? I actually forgot some stuff in town, you and Sammy going to be ok to put up the rest of the decorations? No more angel toppers I promise.”

“Of course Dean, I’m sure we’ll be fi…”

“Great! I’ll be back soon!”

Blue eyes tracked the hunter as he scooped up his keys and practically flew back out the door of the bunker, the roar of an engine signalling his departure towards town. A confused look from Cas was met with an equally bemused shrug from Sam who had witnessed the whole exchange from his spot just inside the doorway before they both set to opening the rest of the boxes and finding places to hang the miles of tinsel hiding within.

\-----

Just over an hour later, with lights and tinsel now strung from wall to wall in the bunker, the rumble of the Impala once again filled the space, shortly followed by Dean struggling through the front door, a giant box in his arms. With Sam’s help, the box was placed on one of the tables in the library before Dean calls Cas over to take a closer look.

“I know it’s not Christmas Day yet but I figured this was a gift worth getting early so…Merry Christmas Cas!” The giant smile stretched across a freckled face is more than enough incentive for Cas to step up to the table to take a closer look at the box and its contents.

A moment of silence fills the bunker before deep throated, full body laughs emerge from the body of the former angel pushing Sam to take a look inside, a wide grin stretching across his face as Cas’ laughter becomes contagious and before long all three are clutching their sides, tears rolling down their faces.

Crammed into the box on the table are hundreds of tiny angel toppers, glitter and fluff aplenty, with three brand new baseball bats sitting on top.


End file.
